Exporting the Revolution to Africa: The Nigerian Experience

Abstract

The “export of revolution” doctrine is born shortly after the Iranian Revolution. Immediately after this Revolution, Iran funded political, economic and education projects to create local support for a new balance of powers in countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle-East and Balkan. An exemplary case is the rise and fall of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. This movement, led by Sheikh Zakzaky, succeeded in creating a large Shia minority in Nigeria that counted hardly any Shia in the past. African states consider Iranian policies as interference in internal affairs as these policies have resulted in the destabilization of certain areas. Although, the public discourse pays attention to such tensions, in the legal scholarship there is little research about the implications of the export of revolution doctrine for human flourishing in Africa. This Chapter aims to fill in this theoretical gap.